EXPLORING INDIAN MODERNITIES: Ideas and Practices

Book Details:

• Publisher: Springer

• ISBN: 9789811695896

• Language: English

• Binding: Hardback

• Pages: 352

• Publication Year: 2022

About the Book:

This comprehensive volume examines the multifaceted and evolving concept of modernity within Indian society. Through an ambitious multidisciplinary approach, the book explores how the notion of the modern has been understood, practiced, and experienced across various contexts in India. The book is divided into three parts: Imagining the Modern, Experiencing the Modern, and Narrating the Modern, each offering unique perspectives on the dynamic and contested nature of modernity.

The first part, Imagining the Modern, delves into the theoretical and institutional frameworks that shape modernity in India, considering topics such as political economy, democracy, and the role of international law in modernizing India. The second part, Experiencing the Modern, focuses on how modernity is manifested in daily practices and cultural expressions, such as marriage, art, cuisine, and rituals. Finally, the third section, Narrating the Modern, analyzes literary, historical, and travel narratives that explore modernity’s contradictions, its impact on sexuality, and its global intersections.

By drawing on disciplines such as political science, sociology, anthropology, history, economics, and cultural studies, this volume highlights the complexities of being modern in India. It argues that modernity is not a single, linear progression but a continuously evolving, contested process shaped by both historical legacies and contemporary challenges. The book also addresses the global dimensions of modernity, offering a nuanced understanding of how India’s modernity interacts with global discourses.

With contributions from renowned scholars, the book is an essential resource for those studying modernity, Indian society, culture, and politics, as well as for those interested in global social science scholarship. It offers new insights into the varied and complex ways that modernity is experienced and understood in India today.